Warrior Monks

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It was a 6am start as our train to Ningbo departs at 730am we finally flagged down a taxi about 655am. The driver set off towards the train station and it appeared like he was taking us to the dodgy train station we went to yesterday until Tony showed him the book again. We arrived at the station about eight minutes past seven, Tony setting off at a cracking pace to the platform. Luckily platform instructions were in English, so we found it quickly running down the stairs and onto the train at 715am. “Whew” said Tony, “We made it with five minutes to spare.” He thought the train departed at 720 not 730, no wonder he went so fast.

The train is comfortable and I certainly have no complaints about Chinese trains although we never know where to get off. The journey took two hours and we had no one sitting opposite us so we had lots of room spreading out and eating whatever looked ok off the food trolley. We had no idea where Ningbo station was, so we asked a lady near us. Luck would have it she was getting off there so we just followed her a bonus considering there were no English signs anywhere so we wouldn’t have known it was our stop. What we can’t understand is how the Chinese shout in the loudest decibels when they are conversing yet speak so softly over the tannoys. Once outside the station we asked a cabbie to take us to a hotel we had picked in from our guide book, he shook his head “No, no” It was all getting a bit much, so we read up on how to catch a bus out to the ferry terminal, where we to catch a ferry to Putoshan Island, and the hotel we wanted was right next door. We got on the No.1 bus, which was a huge struggle with our backpacks but we managed. Armed with or book we looked for the right stop but unfortunately, we got off one stop too late, even though they had English announcements they never said, “Ferry Terminal” which would have been the most obvious description.

We had about a ten minute walk with our backpacks back towards the Ferry which was set back from the main road. We located the Huagang Hotel but were told “no rooms”. We experience a lot of discrimination here as many hotels will not accept foreigners which is totally unfair, they just want to keep the best bits of China to themselves. Tony had his first taste of hating China today, with everyone refusing us. I have had a gutful since Hangzhou and the constant staring. Tony then left me and the backpacks on the cement outside the hotel and wandered off to find another hotel nearby. He was gone for about half an hour “I didn’t find a hotel, but I found this” he grinned, clutching a bag of KFC. It appears the other hotel has been demolished. We ate our KFC and left our rubbish out the front of the Huagang Hotel on purpose walking to the main road to try to hail a cab to the third hotel on our list. We had been searching for over an hour now, it was past 11 and we still wanted to go to Putoshan Island by ferry. Just as we were about to lose total faith in China, someone helpful always comes along. Our cabbie was very nice and got us to our hotel, which is only a 10 minute walk to the ferry. We had to pay more than we wanted Y280 ($62) but it’s a very comfortable room with proper toilet and a TV for Tony so he can watch his Chinese soaps.

As soon as we had dumped our bags we raced back to the ferry and guess what? It had been drizzling all morning and because of the weather the ferry was not running. They offered to book us onto the first ferry for tomorrow, but as our train leaves at 920am we can’t do it, what a huge disappointment. We returned to our hotel and Tony ministered to his painful blisters.

Our rest was constantly interrupted by constant phone calls during the night, Tony rang reception and complained but it didn’t stop and he ended up unplugging the phone at about 2am. We went down to breakfast (included in the room price) and were surprised when they had toast and butter this time, unlike that awful buffet in Xiamen. When we checked out we asked the desk clerk to call us a taxi (listed as a service they provided) but the girl just pointed out to the street, such wonderful service not. It didn’t take us long to find one though and we were soon at the train station with time to spare.

When we boarded the train, we found we weren’t sitting together, but we asked the Chinese girl sitting next to Tony to move and she wasn’t happy about it but she moved anyway. We have a four hour journey to Shanghai on coach like seats so it’s the least comfortable train so far, but it could certainly be worse. They bring food trolleys around every two minutes which is excessive when there are no yummy biscuits like yesterday although the coconut muffins weren’t bad. Our journey was brightened up by a young Chinese girl who kept coming to say hello she was around five years old and took a real shine to Tony. She brought us sunflower seeds, lychees, grapes and finally balloons. Tony kept making her giggle by sticking two balloons up his top and she kept making him do it repeatedly. Most of our fellow passengers laughed too. The girl who we had exchanged seats with translated for us and the little girl told Tony “You are very handsome” Think she won his heart. We took a photo then she demanded more, so we ended up taking three.

We arrived in Shanghai about 2pm, struggling off the train with our backpacks (while those stupid Chinese pushed their way on they really love making life difficult for us). We passed a ticket office that spoke English, so we bought our tickets to Zhengzhou Y239 ($53) we depart Friday night about 9pm.

Locating the guesthouse was difficult as all stations on the subway map were written in Chinese, no English at all, by the time we asked a young Chinese girl to help us purchased our tickets to Chifeng Lu at the ticket window, thoughtful mother even offered to give us Y2 for the tickets. When we found the platform, all the signs were written in English, makes sense (not). The train was new and not really a subway but elevated, stops were announced in Chinese and English so we knew when to get off. We got talking to a young Chinese student who happened to be staying near our guesthouse and he offered to show us the way (see you get helpful people too). He was nice and even carried my daypack for me, he thinks we are quite mad for coming to China, when I explained about experiencing the history, he replied “Couldn’t you just buy a book?” It was less than five minutes to the guest house, our new friend left us and we checked in for three nights. Our room is comfortable and the guesthouse has both a convenience store and a compatible ATM. It was now past 4pm and time to explore but Tony is feeling unwell so we will stay in tonight, we have English on the TV so Tony will be happy.

Had our closed washed for the first time in nearly two weeks which was a relief as one of Tony’s shirts is about to walk home. After taking list down we headed off to the Metro station where we returned to the Shanghai railway station stop emerging from the subway in a dinghy back alley it took us about 20 minutes to find our way to the front and the Maccas there where we chose to breakfast. Disappointing as they smothered the egg and sausage McMuffin’s in tomato sauce – YUCK!

After that we caught the 506 bus one stop to find the Jade Buddha Temple as we alighted we didn’t know where we were, but found the temple within five minutes. It cost Y20 ($4) to get in to the temple and an extra Y5($1) to see the Jade Buddha. The temple was interesting and the Buddha as beautifully and ornately carved as usual you weren’t permitted to take photos of that Buddha, but there was plenty of other things to photograph. We spent about an hour there, then had a bit of a wait for the 506 bus. Once back at the train station, we caught the line 1 Metro out to the People’s Square and the Shanghai Museum. Located in the middle of a very tidy park, the Shanghai Museum is quite impressive. It cost us Y5($1) with our student cards and contained exhibitions of jade, coins, costumes etc. we spent a bit of time there in the company of quite a few other Westerners, the most we have seen so far in China, mainly French or German. We were in the Museum for about an hour and a half before catching two metros home. There is a canal next to our guest house that smells of bad rotten eggs and even the Chinese hold their noses when they pass. Tony got stuck into his duty-free bourbon (mainly because he was sick of carrying it) and downstairs in the convenience store they have nice ham and egg rolls we had two each plus Kit Kats – oh for chocolate – last night we found Snickers. Looks like another early night but we did have a very successful day today.

Today we stayed in the hotel until noon collected our washing which cost Y80 ($17) and they didn’t wash Tony’s stiff sweaty shirt which needed washing most. After checked out we left our bags at the hotel while we did some exploring in Shanghai. We caught the Metro back to Shanghai Train Station and found the right exit this time and came out right in front of the station. As we already have our tickets for Zhengzhou, we thought we would buy our tickets from Zhengzhou to Xi’an but after look at the queues decided to try again later, it was absolutely packed. We then spotted a Gino’s Bakery across the road, so we went and bought some fried sandwiches. Next door was a Mister Donut so we went in and had some donuts. We then caught the Metro Line 1 to People’s Square, which we had done two days previously, so we knew the way.

We found the road we wanted relatively easily, Fuzhou Lu, and set off for the Bund. We stopped to buy Tony a PRC badge and to look in a Foreign Language bookstore (which was crap $or ten-year-old novels) we then discovered a hostel which would’ve been good had we known of its existence. It has a bar so we may come back later. We then reached The Bund, which is the name for the embankment which stretches 1.5km along the Huangpa River, it’s really just a promenade with views across the river to some impressive buildings on the other side. Probably would be a pleasant view if not for the shocking pollution. Of course, it was swarming with Chinese but there were lots of foreigners also far more in Shanghai than anywhere else we have been in China. We walked almost the full length of the Bund, and then set out to see if we could find the Old Chinese City.

We found it quite easily, crossing a park we entered the Yuyuan Bazaar; the bazaar was quite interesting but mainly had stalls selling Chinese knick-knacks. Set in amongst traditional buildings, it had a bit of an atmosphere, but most of the stuff was the same. It was still interesting poking around though. I had a headache so we then walked back to the hostel we had seen before and went to their bar. It was up on the roof and gave a view of the river and was called Noah’s bar and was shaped like a boat. We had a couple of beers before going downstairs and using their free Internet for half an hour. Got some brochures on other hostels in China and a web address which will come in useful when we next look for accommodation.

It was now 530pm, so we caught the Metro back to Shanghai Railway Station where queue at the ticket window stretched for miles but we bit the bullet and waited anyway. After about 15 minutes we managed to obtain our tickets to Xi’an which cost Y624($139) which seemed a bit steep, as we were walking back to the Metro, Tony realised the tickets were for Shanghai – Xi’an, not Zhengzhou – Xi’an. He raced back to change them, was gone about 10 minutes and when he returned he told me that they don’t sell those tickets here, what a waste of time. At least he saw the funny side and more importantly, got his money back. We then caught the Metro back to the hotel and collected our luggage. We still have about two hours before our train leaves, so we sat around the hotel before catching the Metro back to Shanghai station. We seem to manage better with our backpacks the later in the day it is, we cope fine though we had a long walk through an underground tunnel and negotiate a very crowded Shanghai railway station.

We boarded the train about 830pm, this time we have the bottom bunks, which seem to be the best, I am writing this journal, on the table provided in between the two bottom bunks. Tony’s tongue seems to be stuck to the roof of his mouth with thirst as they don’t appear to be bringing any drinks around, he will be a very thirsty boy as Zhengzhou is 14 hour away.

We arrived in Zhengzhou a bit earlier than expected, just after 9am. Train ride was a success, both managed to sleep but were woken at 6am by Chinese walking around and slurping their breakfasts. Tony had managed to buy a bottle of water when the train stopped so was saved from dehydration but I had a nasty experience with the squat toilet in the train they are to be avoided at all costs. Got off the train and out of the station easily as Zhengzhou is a much smaller city than what we have encountered so far. Already there is a difference in the people here they are much friendlier and they hardly stare at all.

There are several hotels around the train station, so we went to the first one and got turned away again, discrimination. We were approached by a tout as we were reading our book/map and she led us to a hotel, we don’t really like following touts, but this one actually did us a favour, as the hotel (Jin Xing) dropped its price immediately without us having to haggle (from Y168 to Y140 – about $31). The room is really dinghy and run down, Sellotape holds the lamps together, the kettle doesn’t work, curtains don’t close and the carpet is stained but it is cheap and accessible so we don’t care. After dumping our bags, we set off to get some breakfast, buy our train tickets to Xi’an and see if we could book a tour to the Shaolin Monastery, which is our reason for coming to Zhengzhou. We both like this city already, although a bit ‘neon’ it’s small and friendly, but the roads are horrendous and an elderly couple in their 70’s helped us cross LOL.

We explored for a bit, there are many small stalls as well as major stores and people with microphones on stages surrounded by balloon archways doing everything from singing to promoting shampoo, we don’t know if this is normal or if there is a festival on. En-route to the train station we passed the bus station that takes you to Shaolin, so we stopped to look at the prices and were swamped by touts. One offered to take us at 1130am and a big American standing nearby told us he had booked a seat and it had cost him Y21 ($5). With the help of a local girl who translated, we discovered we could get on the bus now and it would return about 4 and 5pm. Although we had planned to go to Shaolin on Sunday (tomorrow) we decided to go now. We followed the tout (for what seemed forever) to a place where we would catch a bus but when it came it was full, so we thought, surely, we don’t have to stand up for two hours? But no, they provided us with little wooden seats and we sat in the aisle with other late comers. The Yank must’ve been told to get on at the bus station as he had a seat at the back. The seats weren’t made for our big bums so it was quite an uncomfortable journey (should’ve wised up then) especially for Tony whose knees were under his chin. We stopped to pick up this girl and it soon became apparent that we were part of a tour which we didn’t want. We had read about these in the Let’s Go book and it was obvious the tout had lied.

We were first taken to a temple which was nice but not what we came to see, not knowing Chinese, we didn’t know if we were at the Shaolin Temple or not. We asked the Yank (whose name was Bill) if he knew, but he didn’t even though he had a Chinese girlfriend who spoke good English. We broke away from the tour (no point if you can’t speak Chinese) and wandered around by ourselves. It was then that we discovered the Zhongyue Temple.

We went and sat on the bus, stealing a young woman and her small boy’s seats she wasn’t happy with this situation but we refused to move. She found a seat and had her boy on her lap (as she should’ve in the first place). We were then taken to a restaurant, this trip was becoming horrific, we had been stung Y50 ($11) for the last temple so we refused to eat and had to wait by the bus until after 2pm.

Once everyone was on board, it became obvious that we were now on our way to the Shaolin Temple and monastery complex as we had to cough up another Y91($20) in entrance fees. Our “cheap” trip was becoming expensive and we were pretty pissed off by now as was Bill who said he had no idea that this was going to happen and he proceeded to complained loudly in the American way (although for once we agreed). We were then taken to yet another temple which we thought was Shaolin, it was quite disappointingly small and both Tony and Bill voiced their opinions. Bill also has a friend with him called Jim, who comes from California, and is here visiting Bill (Bill works in China and has just bought a house), Jim is funny and doesn’t think much of China (especially the squat toilets).

We again boarded the bus again thinking we were leaving but we stopped again and everyone got off. Bill explained we were at some “Kung Fu place”. We were then given a display by young Shaolin “masters” which was more like it, they broke metal files over their heads, broke glass with their hands and performed diverse types of Yoga and Kung Fu movements, contorting their bodies in all sorts of strange positions. It was very enjoyable and we took lots of photos, although unsure if they will come out as the movements were very quick. We both thought that the money we had paid so far was worth that alone.

Back on the bus, Bill and his girlfriend had a big fight and now they are not talking to each other very funny. We then got stuck in a traffic jam which added to our frustrations, as it was now past 430pm and we wanted to go home and buy our train tickets for Xi’an. Once again, the bus stopped and everyone got off this time, Tony & I refused we couldn’t be bothered, so we were left on the bus with the driver and two Chinese ladies who didn’t want to pay Y91 (obviously, they weren’t told either). Bill had gone stomping off in the opposite direction and the tour group went the other. What we didn’t realise is that THIS was the Shaolin Temple & Monastery. So, we came this far and missed it anyway, what a pisser. The bus drove from the top of the hill to a parking lot about a kilometre away here Bill got left behind, serve him right for sulking then we passed a bridge that had Bactrian camels giving rides. When we stopped, Tony and I got out and looked around the souvenir stalls, Tony was tempted by the Num-chuks (illegal in Oz). Most stalls were selling Buddha beads, t-shirts and incense. We then walked to the bridge to look at the camels, what we failed to see from the bus was a baby camel. Of course, I had to take a photo, and when I approached it, it got up, came galumphing over and said “Hullo, I’m a baby camel”. It was very cute and friendly, and at least I got to pat it. There was also a sour looking pony which tried to bite me as I walked past, 30 years of equine experience taught me to stamp at it and yell, so it backed down, snaking its head.

We returned to the bus, and waited an eternity for people to board by 6pm some people trickled back, Bill eventually surfaced, but it took another half hour for everyone to get on the bus, we just wanted to get going. – they are so stupid – they get on & then they get off again & wander off. Very frustrating when you just want to get the hell out of there. We seem to have picked up more people as there were ten Chinese sitting in the aisle now. Seems the locals catch one bus there & another bus back a good way to do it if you speak Chinese.

No more stops and an hour and a half later we were back in Zhengzhou, dropping people off along the way which adding to our frustration. Bill was sucking up to his girlfriend and shouted out “Can you drop me at McDonald's?” this was quite funny considering we had just stopped for someone to use an ATM.

Finally, we arrived at the bus station, both vowing to never go on a tour again. Tony too tired to go through the hassle of getting our next train tickets, we have not showered and are still in the same clothes we put on Friday morning, and we feel very uncomfortable, had the bus returned at 4 or 5pm, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but 830pm was a bit too much. Too tired to worry about what to eat, so straight to Maccas, just around the corner a late night for us – 10pm!

It was a good night’s sleep for both of us, except for the phone ringing, what is it with this country? Is this reception going: “Let’s irritate the foreigners?” Used our silk sheets for the first time as the bed spread I a bit grubby. Woke up about 7am, Tony is heading off to the train station all by himself this morning to brave the ques to buy our tickets to Xi’an (not that I am much help anyway). Just as he was about to leave, there was a knock on the door and a maintenance man came in and started to do some work on either the plumbing or the electricity it was quite bizarre as I was still in bed. Now that wouldn’t happen in the Western world.

When he finished, Tony left, he was gone for about an hour and returned flushed with success and a bag of groceries. Apparently, he asked for help at the railway station (he picks on anyone who looks studious or wears glasses) and one chap he asked shook his head but returned to Tony minutes later explaining he could only read or write English, not speak it, valuable lesson, always take a pen. They borrowed a pen and between them worked out what tickets Tony wanted. The Chinese man then marched straight to the front of the queue (which was as hectic as Shanghai) and purchased them! Tony said it was brilliant.

When he returned to the room, the maintenance man came back and messed about in the cupboard again this time he appeared to be gluing, the smell was strong so we opened the window and door. As I was writing in this journal, he wandered over and just stood there, watching me write for about 10 minutes. It wasn’t meant to be intimidating, it was just curiosity, he seemed pleasant enough. When he finished, we set out on the streets of Zhengzhou. Tony loves dodging the traffic but he does it well and so far, we haven’t been hit. We had a wrap from a local stall, it was very like a chicken kebab, very nice but spicy while we searched for an internet café. Too bad we don’t want to buy a mobile phone – the stores are EVERYWHERE.

We then went down a street that was obviously Zhengzhou’s red light district, although the whores all seem to sit under barber shop poles which could be confusing. Half the stalls sell sex aids. We carried on to the markets and Tony bought a new pair of sunglasses for $6. Everything we do attracts a crowd. After that we wandered around looking at the rest of the stalls which were mainly clothes that wouldn’t fit us, but they were very cheap.



We then returned to our room later wandering out again about 5pm. We were tempted by the street stall crepes but they were making them with their bare hands which is a bit off putting after you have been in their toilets. Went to a local restaurant called Dico’s, where I had a burger made of rice and Tony had a spicy chicken burger. Another early night as we have a train to catch at 1030am.

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Photos

Temple guards
Jade Buddha Temple

Yuyuan Bazaar
Shanghai's old town

Ruth at another traditional temple
Dengsheng

Exiting a temple
Dengsheng

Baby Bactrian Camel
Shaolin